the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 21
News
A ten-year-old boy was mauled to
death by dog while playing at a friend’s
house after walking home from school
together.
Jack Lis was named as the victim of
the attack, after armed police arrived
on Monday afternoon and shot the dog
at a house in Penyrheol, Caerphilly,
south Wales.
Emma Whitfield, 31, his mother,
wrote a message on social media to
announce “our beautiful boy Jack was
taken so tragically yesterday”.
“It was not our dog nor did it happen
at our family home. He was out to play,”
she said. “We love you so much our
sweet sweet boy.”
Neighbours said the young boy’s
friend screamed for help as the pitbull-Boy, ten, mauled to death
by dog at friend’s house
staffie-type dog attacked Jack. Tracey
Lawrence said: “The boy who lives in
the house came running out shouting
for help. He said the dog was attacking
his friend, biting his legs. One of the
other neighbours ran in to help but it
was impossible to get the dog off. It was
a horrible experience.”
The boys were both pupils at nearby
Cwm Ifor Primary School and had
walked home together before the
attack at 3.55pm. Neighbours said the
dog was “known to be trouble” and it
was rumoured to have bitten anotherman and killed a cat in recent weeks.
Police said that they were interviewing
the owner.
Gareth Rees, head teacher of Cwm
Ifor Primary School, said: “The whole
school community has been rocked by
the tragic events of the past 24 hours.
Jack was a bright and caring pupil who
was popular amongst his peers and the
teaching staff. Our thoughts are very
much with his family and we now need
time and space to heal together.”
Parents living on the street, in the
middle of a large housing estate, say
they returned home from the school
run to see police blocking the road. One
shop worker said the boy was visiting
the house when he was attacked. “I
think the family that live there were just
looking after the dog for someone else.”
Twelve police vehicles sealed the road
and dozens of officers were at the scene.Will Humphries
Southwest CorrespondentManchester bomb survivor ‘was haunted’
A woman died of an overdose after she
was haunted by surviving the Man-
chester Arena bombing, an inquest has
been told.
Eve Aston, 20, struggled to come to
terms with the bombing at Ariana
Grande’s concert in 2017 and was trau-
matised by thoughts of Salman Abedi,
the suicide bomber who killed 22people, every time she went to sleep,
Black Country coroner’s court heard.
Anthony Aston, her father, had gone
to the concert with her where they had
been caught in a “crush” as they
attempted to flee. He told the inquest:
“We could see a change in her, she
wasn’t the person she used to be. She
said every time she was closing her eyesto go to sleep, she could see the bomber.”
Aston, of Wolverhampton, who died
in July, had been diagnosed with post-
traumatic stress disorder and was
referred to mental health services but
did not follow up on appointments.
Zafar Siddique, the coroner, recorded
a drug-related death as he could not be
sure of intention.Nicole Kidman.
Corden also stars in
the Amazon Prime
musical Cinderella,
released in September.
Yesterday evening
there were nearly
70,000 signatures on a
petition at Change.org
calling for producers
to keep him out of
Wicked. It stated:
“James Corden in no
way shape or form
should be in or near
the production of
Wicked the movie.”
Corden has not
responded. Nor has
Universal Studios. Lastweek it announced it
had cast the British
Oscar nominee Erivo
and the pop star
Grande in the film
adaptation of the
musical, which is a
“reimagining of the
Land of Oz”.
The stage musical,
based on a 1995 novel
and composed by
Stephen Schwartz, is
one of the most
lucrative shows in the
history of Broadway. It
has been running for
15 years in London.
Corden, 43, won a
Tony award in New
York in 2012 for his
role in One Man, Two
Guvnors, which
transferred from the
West End to Broadway.
It was followed by a
presenting role on the
US chat show The Late
Late Show.RICHARD HARBAUGH/AFP/GETTY IMAGESJames Corden has
starred in Cats and Into
the Woods, far left, but is
not a popular choice for
an adaptation of WickedJack Lis had gone
“out to play” when
he was attacked by
a pitbull-type dog